STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sean O'Neill didn't grow up wanting to be the face of America.

In fact, after spending five years as a small child in Germany and Hong Kong with his mother and father, his was little more than the young-boy face of Staten Island. He liked history and English more than math and science. He loved playing with his buddies in Village Greens on the South Shore. He attended PS 4 in Arden Heights, then Totten and Paulo intermediate schools and Stuyvesant High School.

But by the time 9/11 occurred, O'Neill, now 40, was ready to serve his country in some fashion. "My father instilled in me public service. 'You need to give back,' he would say," recalls O'Neill.

For many, the first thing that might come to mind is enlisting in a branch of the armed forces. But O'Neill, a graduate of Tulane University and Fordham Law School who just this spring received Fordham's "Rising Star" award, had already prepared himself in another fashion. He'd taken the Foreign Service exam in March of 2001 and passed.

Working at the time as a financial attorney, with about three-and-a-half years under his belt, he refused the first invitation from the State Department to serve as an officer.

'GAME-CHANGER'

The terrorist attacks were a game-changer, however, admitted O'Neill, who said he reconnected with the department almost immediately and accepted. Eleven years in and five far-away countries later, he's thinking of making it a career.

Most of the approximately 10,000 Foreign Service Officers currently working under the aegis of the U.S. State Department put in 20 to 30 years. But for the most part, their roles are played out behind-the-scenes, and as far as O'Neill is concerned, that means the group is doing its job. In general, their goal is to promote peace, support prosperity and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad, according to the State Department.

O'Neill is not one to shy away from the tough assignments -- and, he says, the State Department doesn't send you packing to any place you don't want to go.

His first posting was to Bangladesh, a country of about 150 million people who occupy land about the size of Wisconsin.

O'Neill admitted that it is "a different world," but that he was "pleasantly surprised. There was a sense of pride and excitement," he said, partly because it was his first post.

"What surprised me was how much regular folks really like America. Folks may disagree with Policy X, but they still want to come here. Part of my job is to promote our policies and to say Americans are good people."

He's gone on to do that in Burma, Thailand, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He's also been to northern Africa. And along the way, he's learned to speak some Bengali, Burmese, Thai and Chinese.

When asked why he agreed to Afghanistan, one of the biggest posts where more than 1,000 officers are currently stationed, he said, "I didn't want to miss out on the chance to serve there."

O'Neill's career allows him to embrace the thrill he obviously gets from discovering new things and learning about history and very different cultures.

'PART OF THE FUN'

"I didn't know anything about Bangladesh or Burma. That's part of the fun," he said.

He admits he does more listening than he does speaking. "A lot of it is just done by example. You're humble, polite, respectful. You can dispel the image of an ugly American. Hopefully, we're doing our job right," he said.

Foreign service officers rely extensively on help from locals in each country. "They don't get publicized much, but they work for the U.S. government and are called foreign service nationals," said O'Neill who described their assistance as invaluable.

Tours for foreign service officers last approximately two to three years, depending on where you're sent. The shorter assignments are given to those who serve in what are called "hardship posts," places like Afghanistan.

CAN BE SCARY

The service is not for the faint of heart.

According to O'Neill's father, Jim O'Neill, a retired teacher from Port Richmond High School and an assistant track coach at Curtis High School who now lives in New Brighton, his son has been in many risky positions. "He's been in a building where rockets have landed," said the older O'Neill.

His son downplays the dangers but admits, "You have to be conscious of security," even though foreign service officers don't normally walk around in flak jackets and carry weapons.

When he returns from overseas, O'Neill often spends time in an apartment in Arlington, Va., receiving additional training. Right now, he doesn't know where he will go next.

Still, he continues to call Staten Island home.

"A lot of folks in my job choose to relocate to Washington, D.C. I choose to go back to Staten Island. To me, Staten Island is a great neighborhood in New York City. The rest of the city may look down on this borough, but all of us know someone who was a cop, a firefighter, a teacher. We're the ones doing the hard work," he said.

And his job, these days -- representing America and the core values it stands for in countries where not everyone sees eye-to-eye -- certainly squares with that.

Those interested in finding out more about being a foreign service officer can visit www.careers.state.gov.